waaseyaaban t1_j77s9tq wrote
when I was in college there were only (as far as I know) 12 other students besides myself that were indigenous (out of around 7000 total students)
a portion of those were certainly people who found out they were 1/128th something and changed their whole demeanor because of it. they tended to be just using it as a quirky fact to stand out, and knew nothing about their cultures
but finding out your heritage later is not always necessarily a bad thing; I also have a (newly-met) relative who found out his tribal ancestry and as a result he put enormous effort into learning cultural practices, became fluent in the language, etc, and knows far more than I do, even having grown up in a tribal community
waaseyaaban t1_j77szhy wrote
and on the flip side, as stated by others, there is the issue of blood quantum not being a suitable measure for enrollment anymore (because we're certainly not going to accomplish much by inbreeding), and due to other failings of the enrollment and legal systems, I know people who have a very high blood quantum who can't be enrolled anywhere, but they're certainly involved in culture and community
the question of "what makes someone indigenous" beyond what your genetic make-up is a rather large deal in tribal communities
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